Hope
by aecul
Summary: His final moments of life, and there was only one person on his mind. Set during Second Coming.


Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. Craig Kyle & Chris Yost wrote the _X-Force_ extract and Mike Carey wrote the _X-Men Legacy_ one.

A/N: Half this story actually happens in the comics, but I wrote it from a different viewpoint; because I felt like I couldn't cut it off right after Cable says goodbye to X-Force.

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><p>"<em>Do you really think they can do it?"<em>

"…_I do."_

"…_Scott. Scott, what aren't you telling me?"_

"_I just killed them." _

"_You just said that—"_

"_Cable's tech…it only had one jump left. He knew it. They all knew. They went anyway. It's a one way trip, win or lose. I just killed X-Force. I just killed my son." _

-_X-Force_ #27

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><p>"<em>Laura! What happened to X?" <em>

"_She's alive. She tried to step through the time-membrane. Intel was right. Nothing organic can go through." _

"_Had to—try. The membrane—is shrinking. When it closes—it's gone for good."_

"_Seriously, are we going to stand here and watch it blink out and strand us here forever? Because I don't think I could take that." _

"_No. We've got to get some cover before nightfall. There'll be other sentinels out there. Best we can hope to do now is survive." _

-_X-Men Legacy_ #237

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><p><em>Hope<em>

Domino knew what he was going to do first. She had always known him the best.

She had been unintentionally avoiding him since his return—he was not the man who had taught her to dream, who would move heaven and earth for her. She could not recognize the weathered, world-weary soldier he had become. And for his part, he would never give up those years he had gained, but oh, to go back to the way it had been…

She was standing in front of him, hands out the smallest bit and he thought she probably didn't even realize she was reaching to him. Her face was panicked. All this time, and she still knew him the best. "Don't be ridiculous, Nathan. That's not what I meant."

There was that old, familiar stubbornness tensing up inside of him. He was the only route of escape for their team; he had known it from the beginning, and he wasn't going to circumvent a mission—even a self-issued one—for his own protection. He had left Dom safe and all alone on that stupid ferry boat from Providence to the mainland, but he'd never left her anywhere she would be in danger, and he sure as heck wasn't going to start now. He wasn't leaving anyone else behind, either. Logan? That X-23 clone girl? Archangel? Cypher? All getting home. Safely. He could make sure that happened.

The others were staring at them confusedly. "Cable?" Logan said.

"I can get you through," he told them. "I'm half techno-organic. Let the virus take the rest of me, and I'll be able to hold the membrane open. Long enough for all a' you to get back to the present." Back to his Hope. Cyclops would have sent her far from the battle hours ago, safely tucked away someplace from which she could work her mutant magic without being touched by the dangers of the real world. But, he had realized, if there was any chance—and it was selfish of him, he knew—if there was any chance of seeing her again, even for a brief moment, he would take it.

This was his chance. Besides, he knew she would be all right if he got X-Force to her again. There was no logic to it, but in his mind he had this set as a fact. Save his team, save his daughter, save the world he had given so much of himself for in his lifetime. Everything he loved. It would be worth a payment of any price.

Dom's teeth were clenched—"But you'll die!" —and he almost laughed. As if there weren't times she would have shot him dead herself. He put his arms around her and she buried her face in his chest. "Trust me, okay?"

"No, no, I don't trust you, Cable. Why should I trust you with this? You wreck everything!"

Her voice told him she was as close to crying as Domino ever got. She was only a little in shock, he knew. She would bounce back, just like she always did. It must have been hard on her to lose her very best friend once and she didn't want to see him gone again. Poor Dom. He remembered a time when he had his telepathy still—when this girl meant more to him than anything. Her thoughts made him laugh because they were so much less intense than she was on the outside. She liked chick flicks and butter popcorn. He could sit there for hours and watch emotions cross her face, watch her hands move when she triggered her guns and the smile in her eyes when he kissed her breath away. Give him the entire world, and he could pick her mind out from everyone else's.

Now, though, telepathy fizzled to nothing long ago, there was only one person he wanted with him, and she was on the other side of time itself. Further than death, it felt. His daughter was the light of his life, the reason for his existence. She made everything so simple; and everything he did was for her. He had to do this one more thing. That was why Dom could trust him.

"I need you and Logan to look after Hope for me," he told her. "You promise?"

She pulled away from him, ran a hand through her hair. "Of course I promise."

Cable glanced at Wolverine.

"Sure, Nate."

"Are you sure about this?" Archangel asked him, propping up X-23, staring at the time-membrane. "It's getting smaller, guys."

"Yes." Cable took a deep breath. "I need everyone out of the way. We don't have much time." He smiled at all of them. "Thank you, for everything."

As the team was backing away from him, he closed his eyes and focused on the mental blocks he had put up against his T-O virus. They were easy to crumble. It had happened before, and he was weaker now than he had been then. Every minute of every day of his life the virus pressed at the edges of his consciousness, and it was a surprising relief to let it consume him. _Strength, God._

He had lived under the Askani religion since he was a child, but there were times he couldn't do things on his own. He knew his Hope was going to heaven, that there was something beyond this life, Someone bigger than he was. Could God hear the prayers of a person turned techno-organic? _Strength…_

He reached through the glowing portal, straining against the virus which was tearing, seething outward from deep inside him, working hard to break his will, to keep him from moving forwards.

He was stronger than it was, at least for now…Everything hurt.

He pushed the membrane up and open and held it there, shuddering under its weight. The red tint of his present-day earth seeped into sight. The bridge—the sentinels, fallen—the other X-Men looking at him from a distance. Danielle, Psylocke, Emma…His father.

And Lord, oh, God, there she was, his princess, his angel, standing, tears streaking her face, more beautiful than he had ever seen her. He couldn't manage to be angry that Scott hadn't gotten her out of the battle. She was there. All he needed.

Between the agonizing gasps of pain that racked him, spreading through every nerve, straight to his fingertips, up and down his spine, making his eyes blur, his skin burn and his head pound, he could hear from behind him, "It's open! Dom—take Laura—go, go now—!"

He could feel Emma speaking into his mind, her forehead creasing as the wave of his senses struck her own. _Cable?_

_It's all right, Emma. I have to do this to save all of them. It was the only way to get them back here…_

Emma's thoughts were steady, diamond-cold, a thankful calm in the midst of his ravaging storm. _Cable._ _X-Force is coming through. They're safe…give it another minute, Nathan…they're safe… _

Hope was running to him, just like she had every day when she was such a little girl. He saw her sitting on her mother's lap, talking nonstop in her unintelligible toddler burble, and laughing, laughing.

Cyclops, his father, was behind her now: "Cable! Nathan!"

And his heart broke; his daughter's arms were stretched out to him, and she had no words besides "Please, please…" Her faint voice was choked with tears, her lips trembling. Don't cry, angel. Don't cry, Hope. Don't cry, Hope. _Emma, tell her… _Don't cry. I'm here.

"Say something," she begged him.

He couldn't speak. Could barely open his mouth. He smiled at his daughter, with every last ounce of his strength. His sight was fading. The weight of the membrane was pressing too hard, aching, stinging; the T-O virus was drawing sobs of breath from his lungs. His arms throbbed. He couldn't hold it—it was too heavy—all of X-Force had gotten through; they were safe—he couldn't hold it any longer. Don't cry, love. The future is yours. _Take care of her, Emma._ Hope…

End.

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><p>AN: Oh Cable...

Thanks for reading, guys! Please let me know what you thought. Good? Bad? Am I right in thinking my writing is kind of convoluted?

I have been recruited to help advertise for TheBlueFoxtrot A Samba's **X Men Evo Fanfiction Challenges** forum. It's pretty cool; go check it out! :)

God bless!


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